Tattoo you...

I intended to make today’s entry about bass playing, but an incident this morning made me change direction.   

Since I am heading out for a conference tomorrow, I decided to get my unruly mop top cut.   The salon I frequent is wonderful and I love my hairdresser, Robyn.     She’s great at what she does and is a really engaging person.  

I don’t know if this applies to men, but the culture of the salon is such that women tend to take filters off and say some of the things they would never venture to say in other public places.  A good hairdresser must have enough information on their clients to be a highly lucrative blackmailer if they so desired.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous entry, I have tattoos.  I have a lot of tattoos in fact, but in places that are very easily hidden by a hairdresser’s cape.    And while the area of the universe I abide in tends to be rather accepting of body art in general, there are a few people who apparently aren’t so liberal in their acceptance, as I found out today.

Another customer and I were getting our hair shampooed.  The conversation started innocently enough between one of the stylists and her customer about their type of “guy”.  And then the customer stated, “I like the guy next door, you know boyish, no tattoos”.   Now I could have been fine with this; “to each his own” as the saying goes.  Besides, there are only so many tattoo love boys to go about for us women who happen to really find them attractive.  But she went down this amazing tirade about how no one can take people who have tattoos seriously and how people who are inked will be regretful of their actions later on.   This went on for ten solid minutes of soapbox lecturing.   And the whole time the woman had no clue that the woman getting rinsed in the next basis was sporting more ink than Amy Winehouse.

Finally she ended up with “Well, when they are all old, how will they feel then with their ink”?

I stood up, took my arms with their half sleeve tattoos out and turned to Robyn and said “Well, my goal is to be that weird, fun and wild Grandmother in the neighborhood”.     While I probably didn’t change any opinions, the other woman did manage to shut up on the subject.

I know not everyone loves tattoos or body mods.  I don’t like over plucked eyebrows on women or the helmet hair hairstyle that seems to be preferred by Republican candidate’s wives.   But I have far too much to do in my life without being the fashion or body mod police.  You don’t like tattoos or ear plugs?  Fine don’t get them.   I can live with that.   But respect my decision too.  Life’s too short to be throwing stones, especially when your glass house is so transparent.